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Loving my 2011 X3 3.5 which has now passed 20,000 miles. While I don't love the run flats they are fine for my everyday driving around NY and NJ. Plenty of tread and normal operation but I hear a whomping noise that I am sure is from the tires...P7's.

Loving my 2011 X3 3.5 which has now passed 20,000 miles. While I don't love the run flats they are fine for my everyday driving around NY and NJ. Plenty of tread and normal operation but I hear a whomping noise that I am sure is from the tires...P7's.

Anyone else get this?

Could be a bald spot / uneven wear. RFT are semi-notorious for it as they wear. The noise difference on my MINI between 30k RFT and brand new non RFT was insane.

And mine had significant cupping on the driver rear which was the main culprit for the noise.

Same problem, little less mileage on mine. If you run your hand around the circumference of the tire on the row of tread blocks that are the inside edge of the tire you will probably notice some up and down undulations, or lumps. I think these are probably creating the noise issue. Several tire shops have said "BMW's with run-flats all do that to the tire, and best ride quality is going to be with non-run flat tires". I haven't changed the tires yet as there is still good tread life, but if you can identify the lumpy ones the noise is not as noticeable if the lumpy ones are on the rear rather than the front of the car. If it makes economic sense to get the P7's price adjusted out on a new P7, the tires may (seems dependent on country) have road hazard coverage, so not a big deal to create an unfortunate incident where the tire gets "cut" in the sidewall....

In my experience getting a tire price adjusted still would come to about $250 all in. That seemed to be not a great deal for a tire with 7/32" tread depth remaining. I am trying to ignore the noise while I try to determine if there is a better replacement option for the original P7's.

The OEM Pirelli tires are cupping on my 2011 at 16,000. I'll keep rotating them to try to slow down the wear. I'll look for Michelintires as replacements when these wear out. Had the same issue with Firestonetires in a Ford truck. Replaced those tires with Michelin and never had the problem again.

The OEM Pirelli tires are cupping on my 2011 at 16,000. I'll keep rotating them to try to slow down the wear. I'll look for Michelintires as replacements when these wear out. Had the same issue with Firestonetires in a Ford truck. Replaced those tires with Michelin and never had the problem again.

I thought so too, but that simply wasn't the case on my Ford truck. I'm convinced its the way the tires are designed and the material used in the tire. The Firestones cupped and the Michelins didn't. I ended up put typing more miles on the Michelins with no cupping.